ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict reflected on the persecution
of Catholics across the world during a Good Friday procession
around Rome's Coliseum that threw the spotlight on suffering
among China's faithful.

The Pope, who has made improving relations with China one
of the goals of his pontificate, presided over the traditional
Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession commemorating Christ's
crucifixion and death.

Attended by tens of thousands of people, the solemn,
night-time ceremony is one of the main services ahead of Easter
-- the climax of the Christian year.

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Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong, who has
criticized a lack of religious freedom in China, wrote the
meditations for this year. They paid tribute to those "living
martyrs" who suffer for their faith.

"In many parts of the world, (the Church) is undergoing the
dark hour of persecution," Zen wrote in one of the meditations.

China's 8 to 12 million Catholics are split between a
church approved by the ruling Communist party and an
"underground" church wary of government intervention. Beijing
and the Vatican severed ties two years after the 1949 Communist
takeover.

Even though there was no explicit reference to China's
Catholics on Friday, the cardinal said last week his
meditations honored China's Catholics, who "are truly a people
that have suffered a lot and are suffering."

PERSECUTION, AL QAEDA THREAT

In the Good Friday ceremony, broadcast on television to 39
countries, a young woman from China carried the cross for the
part of the ceremony, under a rainy, cold night sky.

The Pontiff briefly held the cross at the end of the
ceremony, facing the ancient ruins of the Coliseum.

Zen noted how the Coliseum was once the place where early
Christians were put to the death.

"Coliseums have multiplied down the centuries, wherever our
brothers and sisters, in different parts of the world, continue
to be harshly persecuted today," Zen wrote in the forward,
which the Pope read aloud.

Earlier this month, an Iraqi archbishop was found dead in
eastern Mosul after being kidnapped by gunmen, in an attack
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed on al Qaeda.

The Saudi-born militant leader said in an audio recording
released this week that the publication of cartoons mocking the
Prophet Mohammad was part of a "new crusade" involving Pope
Benedict -- a charge the Vatican denied.

Italian security officials said on Friday the message was
being treated as a threat against the Pope, but added no
changes were needed to the Pontiff's already tight security.

The German-born Pope is leading the 1.1 billion-member
Roman Catholic Church towards the third Easter of his
pontificate.

On Saturday night, Benedict will say an Easter Eve mass,
and on Sunday will deliver an "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and
the world) blessing and message.